Do you like to read? Have you ever stayed up waaaayyy to late reading? Then this is the spot for you. This is the spot for the eclectic book reader. I love all kinds of books, in any format. I can't wait to share my love of books with you.

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Saturday, May 23, 2015

Book Review of The
White: The Dragon Pearl, book 1Sponsored by Enchanted Book Tours

Welcome to Books,
Books, and More Books. I am pleased to
share this book with you. Thank you for
visiting and please come again.

About
The Book

Title: The White (The Dragon Pearl, Book 1)

Author: T.L. Shreffler

Release Date: May 25,
2015

Genre: Fantasy Adventure, some romance

Ever
since The White appeared in our valley of Windridge, my people have lived in
fear. But today that fear ends. Finally, the King has sent his most elite
dragon hunters to kill The White, the last of the imperial dragons.

Since the death of her father, Sienna Foxburn hasn’t felt safe. The White, a
fire-breathing imperial dragon, terrorizes the Valley of Windridge with no end
in sight. But Sienna isn’t satisfied hiding behind the walls of her keep. She
is tired of fearing the dragon, but she can’t fight it alone.

Then a mysterious sorceress and two elite dragon hunters arrive, claiming to be
sent by the King. Thus begins the great hunt for The White. Sienna embarks on a
dragon-hunting adventure through the exotic Valley of Windridge, all while
uncovering secrets and conspiracies that could endanger the entire
Kingdom….

Author Bio

T. L.
Shreffler is a dragon hunter living in the sunny acres of San Fernando
Valley, California. She enjoys frolicking through meadows, sipping iced tea,
exploring the unknown reaches of her homeland and unearthing rare artifacts in
thrift stores. She holds a Bachelors in Eloquence (English) and writes Fantasy,
Paranormal Romance and poetry. She is author of The Cat's Eye Chronicles (#9
Amazon Top 100, #1 Kindle Fantasy) and has previously been published in Eclipse:
A Literary Anthology and The Northridge Review.

James wrestled me
to the ground, his thick forearm around my throat, not quite hard enough to
choke. “I win!” he declared. “Just say the word, and I'll let go!”

Damn, he was too
strong. I tried to reply, but it came out as a garbled squeak. I reached my arms
around, trying to get him off my back, but he was too heavy to budge. He pinned
me down by pure weight.

We were so
distracted by the fight, we didn't notice the wind pick up, moaning through the
trees. Branches began to thrash back and forth. My hair whipped into my face.

Then a shadow
flew over us.

James gasped.

Pure adrenaline
shot up my spine. I threw James to the side, his arms limp from shock. We both
stared upward, searching the sky.

A terrible,
piercing shriek split the air, a thousand times louder than a bird. The forest
fell silent. The wind whipped the trees back and forth as though shaken by
giant hands. Several branches snapped off and fell to the ground.

The bowark
screamed and took off running. It thundered across the hill at a clumsy, rolling
gait. I scanned the sky once, twice, holding my breath. Then, finally, I saw
it.

The White circled
around a pillar of rock high up on the mountain. This close, it appeared much
larger than the distorted beast of my dreams. The shadow of its wings engulfed
the entire hillside. Its tail stretched twice the length of its body, longer
than the towering trees. The sunset’s glare reflected from its wings, casting
its scales in a pearlescent glow.

I couldn't
believe my eyes. The dragon had appeared from nowhere!

The sun hovered
low in the sky, fading over the opposite ridge of the valley. Nightfall. We had
stayed out too long.

I tried to stand
up, but James threw me back to the ground, pushing me flat against the grass.
“Get down, you idiot!” he hissed. “Its hunting!”

The dragon's tail
lashed through the air, snapping several trees in half as it banked and turned.
The broken trunks skidded down the hill, upturning rocks and loose dirt,
creating a minor avalanche. The rocks bounced downward. James gripped my hand
and we braced ourselves. A huge boulder rolled right past us, barely missing
our legs.

The bowark kept
running. It was painful to watch, like a rock trying to outrun lightning. The
White circled once more, then dove from the sky. Its wings created a howling,
whistling sound, almost as loud as its screech. It plucked the bowark off the
ground in one massive claw, like a hawk scooping up a mouse.

Then, with an
elegant twist of its wings, it soared back into the sky. A minute later, it was
gone.

Review:

I love dragon stories. I grew up on
the Dragon riders of Pern and will forever love dragon lore. In this story a girl gets caught up in forces
outside her control. While she is on
this journey she finds out she is more than she first thought. There is some minor romance, but it is a
small part of the story.

The real story is the girl and the
dragon. The dragon both terrifies and fascinates
her. I cannot wait to read more about Sienna
and Darius and the last imperial dragon.

I give this story 5 out of 5 clouds.

This
product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my
opinions or reviews.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Welcome to Books,
Books, and More Books. I am pleased to
share this book with you. Thank you for
visiting and please come again.

About the
Book

Title: Empath

Author: S. Usher
Evans

Genre:
Contemporary Fantasy

Lauren Dailey is in break-up hell.

Stuck between moving on and letting go, she puts on a brave face while crying
herself to sleep at night. But when a mysterious voice promises escape from her
sadness, she is suddenly transported to a new world. And in this place, the
slightest touch pulls her out of her tortured emotions into the mind of another
- an empath.

The villagers - sweet Aerona and her mischievous twins, wise Siors, and hunky
Cefin - welcome her and the blessings her empath powers
bring. But this world is not without its dangers. The Anghenfil, a
fire-breathing monster, has haunted the village for decades, and has a taste
for empaths. And that mysterious voice promising escape
from sadness? It's sounding more like a whisper tinged with smoke and embers.

Can Lauren keep the monsters in the mountain and in her head at bay? Or will
she succumb to the darkness like the empath before her…

Author Bio

S. Usher Evans is an author, blogger, and witty banter
aficionado. Born in a small, suburban town in northwest Florida, she was
seventeen before she realized that not all beach sand is white. From a young
age, she has always been a long-winded individual, first verbally (to the
chagrin of her ever-loving parents) and then eventually channeled into the many
novels that dotted her Windows 98 computer in the early 2000's. After high
school, she got the hell outta dodge and went to school near the nation's
capital, where she somehow landed jobs at National Geographic, Discovery
Channel, and the British Broadcasting Corporation, capping off her educational
career with delivering the commencement address to 20,000 of her closest
friends. She determined she'd goofed off long enough with that television
nonsense and got a "real job" as an IT consultant. Yet she continued
to write, developing 20 page standard operating procedures and then coming home
to write novels about bounty hunters, teenage magic users, and other nonsense.
After a severe quarter life crisis at age 27, she decided to finally get a move
on and share those novels with the world in hopes that she will never have to
write another SOP again.

"There," Cefin said, pointing to a pile of rocks
that leaned against the side of the mountain. "That is where I found
you."

"I was under there?" Lauren breathed. It was obviously a cave-in, and
the boulders were thick and heavy. If any of them had fallen in the wrong
place, she would have been crushed.

It was a miracle she wasn't crushed.

She approached the pile and saw where Cefin must have dug her out. Seeing the
size of the rocks, knowing how close she had come to not getting out, she felt
a little sorry for being so angry with him. Although he was being a jerk right
now, she wasn't sure she ever thanked him for saving her life.

"Just hurry up," he huffed, pulling his spear off of his back.
"The Anghenfil could be in any one of these caves."

"The right response is 'you're welcome'…" She walked up to the pile
and began pushing aside any of the rocks she could, looking for anything
strange. She tossed a fist-sized stone behind her and gasped.

"There's a cave here!" she called to Cefin, who was standing with his
spear in his hand and not helping her whatsoever.

She sniffed and began tugging at a big rock, hoping that if she could move it a
little bit, it would dislodge other ones, creating a larger hole, one that she
could slip through. With a heave, she pushed with all of her might and it broke
free, tumbling down into the blackness and taking Lauren with it.

She landed in a heap in the dark, cool cave, coughing up dust and other
particles. A small halo of light formed a circle on the ground, but didn't
offer any other illumination in the cave. Pushing herself to her feet, she
walked over to the hole and peered out, spying Cefin standing at attention.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Hurry up," Cefin snapped, his eyes glued to the skies.

"Yeah, yeah," Lauren rolled her eyes, disappearing into the darkness.

She stumbled around for a moment, feeling at the floor with her feet for
anything that would give her a clue as to how she got here. Maybe she just
needed to walk to the end of the cave and she'd wake up back in her own bed.
She kicked the ground until she found the wall of the cave, placing her hands
on the chilly stone to guide her. She kept to the wall, planting her feet
firmly with every step to keep her balance.

Her foot caught on something and she fell, but not onto the hard ground, onto
something firm…

And scaly.

In the darkness, a gigantic red eye opened.

She gasped, fear gripping her as she scrambled for the small pinhole in the
distance that was the edge of the cave. "CEFIN!" she screamed, her
voice echoing in the cave.

The monster was moving, and Lauren saw a flash of bright fire, illuminating the
black body the size of an elephant.

She screamed and ran faster, hating herself for ever coming up here. She flung
herself at the small hole, wriggling out as fast as she could. Cefin's spear
was out, concern on his face.

"Lauren, quiet down, you'll wake the—"

"TOO LATE!" she screamed, pulling herself out of the cave and running
past him as fast as her feet could carry her. "RUN!"

Review:

Interesting premise of time and
space/dimension travel mixed with psychological or mental illness issues so
that you aren’t sure even at the end if it really happened. The story was an interesting mix of fantasy
and reality. It explores the concepts of
depression, suicide, and letting other people in to the “secret” thoughts and
emotional connections. Well written so
that it is intriguing rather than preachy.

I give this story 3.5 out of 5 clouds.

This
product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my
opinions or reviews.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Welcome to Books,
Books, and More Books. I am pleased to
share this book with you. Thank you for
visiting and please come again.

About the
Book

Title: From Frights to Flaws

Author: Sunayna
Prasad

Genre: Middle
Grade Fantasy

Twelve-year-old Alyssa
McCarthy is sick of her uncle’s unfair rules and longs for a better life. After
discovering the existence of magic, she finds out about a dark wizard hunting
her down. An unforgettable storm occurs in Alyssa’s ordinary New Jersey town
before the sorcerer kidnaps her to the Fiji Islands.

On the enchanted island of Yanowic, Alyssa learns
that she is unable to get out of the country due to a giant shield. She must
defeat some dangerous creatures and the evil wizard in order to leave. But with
sorcerers and magical technology getting in her way, can Alyssa succeed?

Author Bio

Sunayna Prasad has been writing stories for several years,
starting at the age of six. Now twenty-one, she is a college student will study
who studies art and design as well write for children. Aside from that, Sunayna
also likes to cook, watch movies, and draw. She lives on Long Island, New York,
with her family.

This
is a darling story. It is hysterical,
scary, and realistic. This is a great
book for middle school readers. The main
character finds out magic is real when strange things start happening. The strangest of all is the talking, walking
statue, or marble figure as he prefers to be called.

Despite
all the surreal things that happen to Alyssa and her friends, she remains a
down to earth person. The only thing I
didn’t like was how quickly the girls and Alyssa’s family accepted magic. I kept waiting for them to tell her they knew
about magic and planned to tell her when reached a certain age, but that never
happened. However those were minor.

I
look forward to reading more by this author.
I give this book 3.5 out of 5 clouds.

This product or book may have been distributed for
review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Welcome to Books,
Books, and More Books. I am pleased to
share this book with you. Thank you for
visiting and please come again.

About the Book

Title: The Deep
End

Author: Julie Mulhern

Genre: Cozy
Mystery / Women’s Fiction

Swimming into the lifeless body of her husband’s mistress tends to
ruin a woman’s day, but becoming a murder suspect can ruin her whole life.

It’s 1974 and Ellison Russell’s life revolves around her daughter and her art.
She’s long since stopped caring about her cheating husband, Henry, and the
women with whom he entertains himself. That is, until she becomes a suspect in
Madeline Harper’s death. The murder forces Ellison to confront her husband’s
proclivities and his crimes—kinky sex, petty cruelties and blackmail.

As the body count approaches par on the seventh hole, Ellison knows she has to
catch a killer. But with an interfering mother, an adoring father, a teenage
daughter, and a cadre of well-meaning friends demanding her attention, can
Ellison find the killer before he finds her?

Author Bio

Julie Mulhern is a Kansas City native who
grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping
up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to
keep her house spotlessly clean--and she's got an active imagination. Truth
is--she's an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog
and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions. She is a 2014
Golden Heart® Finalist. The Deep End is her first mystery and is the winner of
The Sheila Award.

My fingers, quite of their own volition reached across the table.
I stopped their progress before they touched Detective Jones’ hand.

We both stared at them, my hand hovering an inch above his. It was
as if some magnetic force was drawing me to touch him, to connect. My gaze
traveled to his face, tanned, lean, a frame for the nicest brown eyes I’d ever
seen. Those eyes looked into mine.

Then I remembered who we were.
Detective Jones didn’t need empathy from a murder suspect any more than I
needed sympathy from the man who might arrest me.

Review:

If
Murphy’s law was a story plot, it would be this one. This poor woman’s life goes to heck in a hand
basket and if it could go wrong it does.
First her husband cheats on her and then she finds the same woman dead. But it only gets worse from there.

This
story has more turns than Lombard Street in San Francisco. And the murderer was a total surprise to
me. I guess it’s good that I’m not a
detective because I would have never guessed.

I
give this story 4 out of 5 clouds.

This product or book may have been distributed for
review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Welcome to Books,
Books, and More Books. I am pleased to
share this book with you. Thank you for
visiting and please come again.

About the Book

Title: Skydreamer

Author: Sheryl
Winters

Genre:
Paranormal Romance

For fire talent, Jaden Zarie, life is far from a fairy tale.
Blisters from any contact with water, check. Sleeping in a shed behind your
greedy Uncle's house, check. Ex-boyfriend scouting the bar where you work for
one-night stands every night, double check.

When Jaden sets off to secure a new life with her two sisters, winning a
contest with a huge pile of gold on the line seems like a quick fix. Getting
hitched to Draven Winterbourne, King of the Dragon-changers, and finding true
love, was beyond anything she could have hoped for.

But a friend turned enemy threatens to take it all away. Jaden is thrust into
an alternate universe and separated from her new husband and her sisters, she
must summon up the courage to start over, alone, knowing she may never see any
of them again.

Author Bio

Sheryl Winters lives in a small town in Alaska. She grew up in the
midst of old country story tellers, so you might say writing comes naturally to
her. She is known for writing paranormal romances with a twist. Her writing
inspiration often comes from the great outdoors of Alaska and she enfolds bits
of it into her stories. For further inspiration, she has raised a menagerie of
cats and dogs to the aged spirits they have become.

“…The Contest is open to all women
between the ages of twenty-one and thirty. Contestants are required to bring
their own reagents. The use of Alchemy is strictly prohibited. Chance of winning
twelve hundred gold per round is one in…”

Voices press in on me from every
side. The week of constant traveling has done me in. All I want to do is hide
in the vego and sleep. I don’t even care if we have enough for dinner tonight.
I feel trapped by the chattering voices of the crowd mashed up with the
officials on the Dais.

“I heard the King’s mother set up
this contest herself. Talk about the ultimate mama’s boy. He has to be uglier
than a troll if his mother has to marry him off this way,” someone suggested.

“… high possibility of death,” came
a skeptical voice, “but with twelve hundred gold per round, everyone should
enter.”

“Which one is Draven?” a shrill
voice demands.

“Are you blind?” Came the reply.
“He’s the one good looking one with the light brown hair. The one standing next
to King Evrid.”

“You said he was ugly!”

It doesn’t matter who this Draven
is. We are only here for Adania. If we win, every silver goes to her schooling.
She’ll have a roof over her head and decent clothes. Nothing else matters.

My fingers sink back into the dark
blue Legal Sphere I received earlier. The tiny ball settles into my palms with
only a light sizzle and its message sounds inside my head.

All contestants will enter into an
exclusive competition. The winner will win a one-year marriage with Draven
Winterbourn, King of the Dragon-Changers. Iyardar Stone to choose the winner.
In the event Draven Winterbourn does not agree with the Iyardar Stone, he has
the right to veto said contestant and select one of his choosing from the
remaining contestants. As stipulated, marriage duration will be one year,
unless both parties—

“Is the Iyardar Stone a diamond, or
a ruby?” I whisper to Isla. “And how does it choose a winner if it’s a rock?”

* * * *

Review:

I love dragon stories and this one
has magic and dragons. Yay! It is also the strangest and sweetest love
story, and a twist on the Cinderella or rags to riches story. I loved it.

The story drew me in with beautiful
imagery. It was a true pleasure to read.

I give this story 5 out of 5 clouds.

This
product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my
opinions or reviews.

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Do you like to read? Have you ever stayed up waaaayyy to late reading? Then this is the spot for you. Join me as I review books, link to other fabulous book sites, and please respond with your comments as well. This is the spot for the eclectic book reader. I love all kinds of books, in any format (book, e-book, chapters in a magazine... heck I even read the back of the cereal box every time). I can't wait to share my love of books with you and see what has captured your attention as well.